7o8 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



author, W. S. Rainsford, has made to this re- 

 gion. A few pages are next given to climb- 

 ing for white goats. Sport in an Untouched 

 American Wilderness describes the region 

 east of the State of Maine, between the 

 Atlantic Ocean on the south and the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence on the north. A Kangaroo 

 Hunt recounts several hunting excursions in 

 the Australian bush. The Last of the Buf- 

 falo is a brief historical sketch of this now 

 almost extinct animal, winding up with the 

 description of a Montana buffalo hunt of 

 the days when this game was still plentiful. 

 At St. Mary's and Hunting Musk Ox with the 

 Dog-Ribs complete the volume. Both books 

 are well illustrated, and, while not particu- 

 larly scientific or instructive, some of the de- 

 scriptions are interesting simply as stories, 

 and all of them will hold the attention of the 

 sportsman. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey has made a collection 

 of his addresses to horticultural societies and 

 similar essays, all bearing upon the process 

 of evolution as observed in domestic plants.* 

 Having had the plan for such a collection in 

 mind for some time, he has been treating 

 from time to time subjects which would to- 

 gether make up a somewhat systematic whole. 

 He has grouped his papers as essays touching 

 the fact and philosophy of evolution, those 

 expounding the fact and causes of variation, 

 and those tracing the evolution of particular 

 types of plants. The last of these divisions 

 is the most popular and practical, and there- 

 fore the most interesting to the horticulturist 

 who is not a biologist. In one of these he 

 discusses the question, Whence came the cul- 

 tivated strawberry ? or rather. Whence came 

 the pine, its ancestor ? Of the three pos- 

 sible origins a hybrid, a direct development 

 of the Chilian strawberry, or a modified form 

 of our big wild strawberry his examination 

 leads him to decide on the second. In a 

 similar manner he discusses the development 

 of American plums, grapes, and carnations ; 

 of the petunia and the garden tomato. Much 

 interesting horticultural history is used as 

 evidence in these discussions. The opening 

 essays of the volume are addressed more 

 especially to the biologist. "It is only in 



* The Survival of the Unlike. By L. H. Bailey. 

 New York : The Macuiillan Co. Pp. 515, 12mo. 

 Price $2. 



the first two essays," he says, "that I have 

 ventured to state any general convictions re- 

 specting the bolder problems of organic evo- 

 lution ; but I count these of much less merit 

 than the statement" of many plain and sim- 

 ple facts of observation and experiment which 

 are made in the humbler essays. If the au- 

 thor has been fortunate enough t.o make any 

 contribution to positive science in these pages, 

 it is probably that associated with the vexed 

 question of bud variation, which is chiefly 

 presented in the third essay ; but even this 

 is novel only in its treatment." The first 

 two essays deal with the survival of the un- 

 like and the transmission of acquired char- 

 acters. Prof. Bailey holds that unlikenesses 

 are the greatest facts in the organic creation ; 

 that they survive because they are unlike, and 

 thereby enter fields of least competition. He 

 believes that acquired characters useful to 

 the species tend to be perpetuated, and the 

 more surely the longer the transforming en- 

 vironments are present. Intermediate in 

 character as in position between the former 

 and latter groups of essays are those dealing 

 with the fact and with the causes of varia- 

 tion. In one of these he combats the idea 

 that improvement in the quality of fruits is 

 always at the expense of some other desir- 

 able quality of the plant. In others he dis- 

 cusses the distribution of cultivated varieties 

 with reference to climatal and geographical 

 conditions, the longevity of varieties, the re- 

 lation of seed-bearing to cultivation, and simi- 

 lar topics. 



Problems in Elementary Physics, by P!. 

 Dana Pierce, is the title of a little volume 

 intended to be used as an auxiliary to the 

 ordinary text-book or laboratory manual on 

 physics. It consists of a series of selected 

 problems for illustrating and also for testing 

 the student's knowledge of the general phys- 

 ical laws. The introductory sections review 

 the portions of arithmetic most needed in 

 physical computations. A good working 

 knowledge of algebra and plane geometry is 

 assumed. A separate chapter is given to 

 simple applications of the graphic method. 

 (Holt, 60 cents.) 



A seventh and revised edition of Dr. 

 Newell Martinis useful handbook of physi- 

 ology, The Human Body, has come to hand. 

 A considerable amount of new matter has 



